


something new and unpredictable

by theghostofjamespotter



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Tumblr Prompt, jily
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-22
Updated: 2015-04-22
Packaged: 2018-03-25 07:02:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3801205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theghostofjamespotter/pseuds/theghostofjamespotter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>filling a tumblr prompt of: "WHEN LILY FIRST REALISES THAT SHE LIKES JAMES BUT THEY'RE JUST GOOD FRIENDS AND HE COMES BACK FROM QUIDDITCH PRACTICE TO THE HEAD'S COMMON ROOM ALL SWEATY AND YEAH (Sorry) x" from wefoundfandomland</p>
            </blockquote>





	something new and unpredictable

“Hufflepuff is going to slaughter us.” The words were simple, matter of fact, and absolutely, unfortunately true.

James spit on the ground. “Piss off, Padfoot.”

“I’m not joking, Prongs. Creswell is a better seeker than we expected – look at what he did in their last match. He’s going to fly circles around –”

“I know, Padfoot, Merlin, I know!” James stopped in his tracks and ran his hand up his neck, fingers locking around his hair. It took Sirius several more steps to realize that James wasn’t next to him anymore.

“Look, James, I’m sorry. We’ll talk to everyone, keep them on Creswell. If the kid gets knocked off his broom from high enough –”

James cut him off again. “No, we’re not knocking out their seeker. Just…just give me a bit, okay?”

Sirius didn’t move. “You sure?”

He exhaled deeply. “Yeah. Yeah, just head back. I’ll meet up with you later.”

Without looking to see if Sirius would leave, James turned around and headed back to the Quidditch pitch.

He flew around the entire pitch five times, taking each curve at a different angle, gripping his broom so tightly, he knew he’d be digging splinters from under his nails later. He ran diving drills, tossing a quaffle into the air, then dipping his broom downward, each time catching it with his toes slightly grazing the grass below. He chucked the quaffle into each of the three massive goalposts, then whipped around them, never letting the ball hit the ground.

An hour and a half later, James made his way back to common room, his breaths hitching in his worn lungs.

It was late; James thought his way to the dormitory would be uninterrupted.

He hadn’t counted on Lily being in the common room.

“I should knock off points for you being out past curfew.” Lily looked right into his eyes, a small upward twitch in the corner of her mouth.

James broke the eye contact. “Evans, I don’t have the energy for this. We both know you wouldn’t knock points from your own house.”

“Ohhh-kay.” James could still feel Lily’s eyes on him and he was suddenly aware of how sweaty he was under his uniform.

“I’m sorry,” he sighed, pulling his sticky uniform away from his equally sticky skin.

“For being rude or for this strip-tease you’re about to give me?”

He looked down. The common room fireplace cast shadows across his now bare chest.

“I’m not about to apologize for perfection, Evans.”

She responded by throwing a pillow at him. James caught it, a laugh escaping his throat as he tossed it back to her. For a moment, he forgot about the inevitability of his failure as a Quidditch captain. All he knew was Lily’s eyes, bright and wide and very obviously running over his exposed torso.

A moment passed like that, until something in Lily changed. It was subtle, but James saw her tense, sitting up at least an inch taller, and now only meeting his eyes.

“So what has you in a mood?” she asked, the teasing tone noticeably absent.

James crossed over to the sofa, slouching sideways into it, facing Lily. “I’m about twelve hours away from getting destroyed on the Quidditch pitch by a team that hasn’t touched the Cup in the last six years.”

Lily’s lips tightened. “Creswell’s that good?”

“You heard?”

“Sirius came through here a while ago mumbling something about Creswell and a bat bogey hex?” Lily’s upper lip twitched into a small smile. “I don’t know, it was all a bit jumbled together.”

“We’re not hexing Creswell.”

“Good, ‘cause you know I’d hate to have to take points from my own house.”

“You would never!”

This back and forth between them was beginning to feel natural. It was still new, but over the last few weeks, James found that he and Lily both were falling into it more easily, more frequently. Again, he found himself grinning back at her.

“You never know, Potter! I’m unpredictable.”

“I would never use that word to describe you.”

“You would if Creswell suddenly took ill tomorrow. I’m thinking jelly brain jinx?”

James leaned into the sofa, vaguely aware of his aching muscles, but focused on the image of a perplexed Creswell walking onto the pitch.

“Unfortunately, my dear, predictable, Evans, you’re going to sit in the stands tomorrow and watch a perfectly un-jellied brain Hufflepuff beat us unmercifully,” James said dully, closing his eyes as his mental image of Creswell changed back.

A pair of lips was on his and James was breathing her in, all lavender and vanilla; it was that sudden. By the time he had gathered his senses and opened his eyes, Lily was on the other end of the sofa again and a mischievous light had taken over her expression.

“You never know.”

And she winked.


End file.
